p90x vs Gym!
gnutrifitness
Posts: 169 Member
Hey guys! What do you think its harder p90x or a 2 hours routine in the gym?...i used to go the gym before i started p90x, i used to do 30-40 min in the stationary bycicle at high intensity (like spinning), and 1 hour of weight lifting, moderate effort, 4-5 days/week. i wanted to know which one would be harder and if you have experience, which would give you better results?
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Having done both, I will say that the answer depends solely upon how much effort you put into either.0
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i can only speak for myself and for my husband. P90X gives the best results hands down. I've been a gym rat for years and was fighting a three year plateau. P90X brings on the intensity that going to the gym does not offer. You're focused and you're knocking out those lifts in a shorter amount of time. I go to the gym now in order to get in extra cardio and see people talking, chatting on the cell phone, walking at 2.0 mph on the treadmill. Wasting their time and wasting their gas. P90X rocks.0
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i can only speak for myself and for my husband. P90X gives the best results hands down. I've been a gym rat for years and was fighting a three year plateau. P90X brings on the intensity that going to the gym does not offer. You're focused and you're knocking out those lifts in a shorter amount of time. I go to the gym now in order to get in extra cardio and see people talking, chatting on the cell phone, walking at 2.0 mph on the treadmill. Wasting their time and wasting their gas. P90X rocks.
P90X is a great program. No doubt about it. As I said though, or at least implied, the "better" one is the one that you put the most effort into. You can really "bring it" with P90X or you can really "bring it" in the gym with a well-designed program and get great results either way. I get better results from the gym than I did P90X. The reason for that is because I'm more consistent and put more effort into my gym workouts than I did with P90X (primarily because I got bored with P90X).
Granted, if you spend most of your time in the gym chatting on the cell phone and walking on the treadmill at 2 mph then you're not going to make much progress. The same can be said for P90X if you do it halfheartedly. It's all about effort.
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After 25+ years experience training bodybuilders, powerlifters, athletes, etc and training in a gym most of my life I honestly gotta go with P90X. I've done just about every routine on the planet and I haven't received near the results I've gotten from P90X. It's just a much more structured "idiot proof" routine.0
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depends on motivation levels of average gym goer.
I have had better results for strength gains with regular gym stuff than P90x but it was definitely beneficial still.0 -
I'm interested in this program. Can someone please tell me what I have to buy? Does the set only come with the dvd's? What do I need in terms of weights, etc?0
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I will agree with ShaneT99. No matter what program your doing or if your at a gym or in your garage, if you dont put forth the intensity, you will not see the same results. P90X , like Insanity, has someone coaching you along in timed intervals at a moderate intensity(P90) to a higher intensity(Insanity). Both are structured well, you dont have to plan any exercises yourself, just push play and follow along! You can get the same intensity at a gym, you have to pre-plan your routine, which to match P90 or Insanity, would need to revolve around circuit training. Short rest intervals combined with multiple exercises. The easier route, DVD's at home.
But you want results....again, depends on your intensity and effort into whatever your doing. Funny thing about DVD's, you can stop moving if you want, no one but you will know! Tony Horton or Sean T will not yell at you, it's not the military! You dont feel it today, push stop, workout over. Same as the gym , todays workout sucked, drove home.
Oh you still want results huh.....then no matter where you workout, push yourself, yes it will hurt, it is supposed to, if it didnt you would have stuck with it! Know that you will get sore, know that you will recover, and through all the soreness what do you notice.....extra energy! Wow......and your feeling good about yourself and your results! Whats that...why yes I have lost some weight, thanks for asking! How...I have been doing (insert workout here)____________ and I love it! Now another reason comes out as to which workout you need to do- you found one you love doing! A workout that makes you want to get back in the next day and do more, push harder, lift more, run further! Thats the best kind of workout no matter what it is labeled or how it is packaged...if you love doing it, then keep doing it, it will reward you as you push yourself!
Maybe you are the sadistic type....you enjoy the workout that kicks your *kitten*, your dog tired afterwards, drenched in sweat,lucky to be standing and breathing, or maybe your still lying on the floor after,forearm across your head, hoping you can get back up! So you pick yourself up, and within the hour you feel your accomplishment! you thought you were going to die during that workout, but you didn't! You stuck it out and now what a great internal feeling you have, wow,can it be..... it.....it's pride again! Your proud of yourself , and you should be! That workout was brutal and you finished it! You kicked *kitten*!
So.....find a workout your happy with no matter how it is packaged, or be sadistic and find a kick *kitten* workout.....remember workouts are like vegetables for kids....while they might not look or taste great, they are good for our bodies and our hearts, and at our age, its kinda nice to feel like a kid again!0 -
It's just a much more structured "idiot proof" routine.
Absolutely, I think that is what makes the difference for me. I can be motivated as hell when I get to the gym, but a lot of time my focus disappears. Other people are on the weights that i want to use and I have to go to another machine. A lot of time the free weights are all over the floor and not racked right. Sweat left on the machines and mats. It's frustrating to go to the gym nowadays.0 -
It's just a much more structured "idiot proof" routine.
Absolutely, I think that is what makes the difference for me. I can be motivated as hell when I get to the gym, but a lot of time my focus disappears. Other people are on the weights that i want to use and I have to go to another machine. A lot of time the free weights are all over the floor and not racked right. Sweat left on the machines and mats. It's frustrating to go to the gym nowadays.
That's why I have a $30000 commercial gym in my garage.
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BR - my dream is to build a gym onto the house or eventually convert my kids playroom into our gym. Then put those P90X posters on the wall along with The Expendables movie poster. LOL0
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I got the dvd's off of craig's list-if I did it again I'd ensure I got the calendars and nutrition stuff so I'd either buy it off the web or ensure my craig's list dude had it all.
Nonetheless, I got all of that off the web and the web research was good as I got to see a lot of ins and outs with regard to exercise and nutrition. p90x is just one way to go-albeit well packaged etc. but you need to have a well rounded view of nutrition and exercise to continue to grow. you're in it for the long run so one package probably won't it. The p90x package will give you the whole 9 WRT what to buy to take advantage of the DVDs. You don't need too much: mat, weights, pull-up bar, heart rate monitor. This will get you started and you can grow over time.0 -
BR - my dream is to build a gym onto the house or eventually convert my kids playroom into our gym. Then put those P90X posters on the wall along with The Expendables movie poster. LOL
I have it all....Smith Machine, leg press, pec dec, PowerBlocks that go up to 130's, etc...can't beat it.
Funny thing is, now that I own all of this equipment, all that I use are my PowerBlocks, my pullup tree and my curl bar and some free weights (when I put the bar with weights on my lap during dips between benches).0 -
Well, the reason why i wrote this topic was because i have been going to the gym since 3-4 years 4-5 times a week, for 1-2 hours. I put a lot of effort, and did a lot of exercises including cardiovascular workout like spinning for 30 min and weight lifting. Of course i got a tonner body, and i saw good results. But seriously doing p90x i feel more soreness than with my typical routines at the gym. Also i fell more tired, despite I used to spend more time at the gym than doing p90x. That's why like others users said, i think p90x works better. I don't know if it's because of the muscle confussion that Tony says or what but it really works. Let me tell you that p90x is hard and not for everybody, you must have a good fitness condition for doing p90x.
In my case i think i already have it, and since the beggining I could finish all the workouts, except for the push ups, I can't even do one, i have commented this in other post, but i think it's for my breast implants, so i prefer to do other exercise instead of them...0 -
You can still do the push ups even with implants. It is important to have balanced strength and having implant should not hinder your progress.
A couple of times during my first round of P90X I was exhausted. There was one weekend I took a three hour nap in the middle of the day. That was P90X working it's magic!0 -
Gym is way harder! Would take more effort to get the same results you could get with P90x, which does the thinking for you and is "idiot proof".0
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P90X is good, but I still don't think it's better (or worse) than a well-designed routine at the gym. As I said before, it's all about effort. Regardless of which routine someone chooses to do, you will only get out of it what you put into it. I would say that P90X definitely gets the nod for people that don't really know how to put together a good workout program, but it's not the end all be all.
That being said, I still do the Plyometrics, Yoga, Cardio X and Ab Ripper workouts on occasion just to change things up. Kenpo X, I feel, is pretty useless and I get better results from my gym workouts than I did from the P90X resistance workouts.0 -
I am the same. I still do yoga and stretch from time to time as these are just good things to do to compliment strength training and mma that I do. Never really liked Kenpo for some reason. Ab ripper is definitely a challenging workout. However, after doing some more research I can see how you could build your ab muscles with less reps of weighted exercises (just like any other muscle)
At the end of the day, you can make gym or p90x as hard (effective) as you want to by choosing lighter weights/bands and increasing/decreasing intensity. Try both Also, you didn't here it from me but check torrents out for p90x :P 0 -
P90X is good, but I still don't think it's better (or worse) than a well-designed routine at the gym.
And there lies the rub.
Most people don't have the intelligence or knowledge to put together a truly taxing workout that is going to push them to their limits. You may very well be one of the exceptions but when I went to a commercial gym I saw a lot of people standing around talking, gawking at the girls or taking way too much time between sets.
For someone who is knowledgeable, I agree that the gym can have serious benefits but most laymen don't have that knowledge.0 -
Knowledge is power.
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You can improvise a p90x like routine in the gym just by doing circuit or inteval training with some core movement between. However, sometimes we tend to take longer rest periods due to the distractions of other folks. Another point is the fact that by doing the same routine, our bodies tend to adjust so our gains will start to diminish overtime so as long as we challange ourselves as if when were being pushed by a coach, will can achieve p90x results at the gym.0
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so as long as we challange ourselves as if when were being pushed by a coach, will can achieve p90x results at the gym.
I agree with this but the question is how many "challenge themselves as if they were being pushed by a coach?" Answer...not many. It takes a special breed to have that kind of discipline & focus. That's where P90X and programs like it take the guesswork out of it. As I said "idiot proof."0 -
bottom line is it will take more effort to get the exact same result at the gym.
ps - i also threw out kenpo x within my first round since I prefer running or something more challenging on that day. however if i were obese I would probably be doing it since it can be a great workout provided it is challenging.0 -
You outgrow Kenpo very quickly in this program. The P90X+ Kenpo/Cardio+ dvd is pretty good though. I've subbed that in for regular Kenpo.0
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bottom line is it will take more effort to get the exact same result at the gym.
Actually it will take the exact same amount of effort to get the exact same result at the gym. As BR1986FB has pointed out though, a lot of people aren't willing to put forth that effort.
P90X is good in that it takes the "knowledge" limitation away. You don't have to know anything with P90X. You just have to do what they tell you to when they tell you to. That doesn't make it better. That just makes it better suited for people who want someone to tell them what to do and when to do it. For me that got boring really fast and I lost interest in doing it.
I stand by my original statement that the BEST program is the one you're going to put the most effort into it. For some people that is P90X. For others it is the gym (or even something else we haven't talked about here). It's all about effort. More effort equals greater results.0 -
takes a hell of a lot more effort to acquire and properly apply the knowledge you are talking about, not to mention the risk of not applying it properly nor the extra time and cost of the gym.
its pretty obvious that its more effort when you factor it all in. That's what you pay for when you buy the program, your paying for all the effort they already put into it for you.
no brainer really.0 -
Wish they could find a way to do the workout for me as well. My stinking knee hurts today from Insanity.0
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takes a hell of a lot more effort to acquire and properly apply the knowledge you are talking about, not to mention the risk of not applying it properly nor the extra time and cost of the gym.
its pretty obvious that its more effort when you factor it all in. That's what you pay for when you buy the program, your paying for all the effort they already put into it for you.
no brainer really.
It's a bit ironic that you'd call it a "no brainer" since you're essentially saying that putting forth the effort to LEARN something isn't worth it. Fair enough, I suppose. I happen to think that knowledge is a good thing and the effort one puts into gaining knowledge almost always pays off in the long run. Personally, I'd rather have the knowledge to know how to design my own workouts than to have to do the same 90 day workout for the rest of my life because I didn't want to put forth the effort to educate myself, but that's just me.
You guys win though. I'm just talking in circles at this point and no one is listening. So, whatever any of you decide to do, if you want to see great results just remember you're going to have to put forth great effort. It won't come free. 0 -
my 'no brainer' was directed at your equal efforts remark, since its obvious that more of your overall effort will be used during the actual workout with p90x than with learning everything yourself and driving to a gym 6 days a week, which of course translates into equal efforts not equalling equal results in your overall fitness....
its not about winning, its just that we didn't agree with your logic, especially since a few of us have done it both ways as well and have already had our successes; a fitness newbie will put more effort into their actual workout when guided by an experienced instructor -- the program is essentially a mass produced/discounted instructor. People can't specialize/learn everything.
sounds like you learned a lot from your p90x routine and it got you started on the right track. So you've taken it to the next leveland bothered to take it the next level, congratulations to you and goodluck on achieving your overall success.0 -
i can only speak for myself and for my husband. P90X gives the best results hands down. I've been a gym rat for years and was fighting a three year plateau. P90X brings on the intensity that going to the gym does not offer. You're focused and you're knocking out those lifts in a shorter amount of time. I go to the gym now in order to get in extra cardio and see people talking, chatting on the cell phone, walking at 2.0 mph on the treadmill. Wasting their time and wasting their gas. P90X rocks.
what kind of equipment do you need at home to complete the p90x?? i imagine its expensive buying all of the equipment0 -
what kind of equipment do you need at home to complete the p90x?? i imagine its expensive buying all of the equipment
- Pullup bar (I bought mine on Craigslist for $40) - Required
- Dumbbells or resistance bands - Required
- Yoga mat and blocks - Helpful but not required
The expensive part is the dumbbells. To do it right you need a pretty wide assortment of paired dumbbells. Resistance bands are cheaper but they don't work as well in my opinion.0
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